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What is this about?

Creating game environments without proper knowledge or guidance is a daunting task. There are countless resources and tutorials on the internet, but without some experience it's hard to make sense of them. My goal with this tutorial is to show how a professional game environment is made, from start to finish. Every single step for the creation of this environment, from modelling to texturing, from creating materials to lighting, have been recorded. All assets were made in the simplest, fastest and cheapest way possible.

Is this for me?

This tutorial was created with all skill levels in mind. Whether you are an aspiring or a seasoned environment artist I got something for you. The only requirements to follow the tutorial is to have basic knowledge of Maya (or a similar modeling program), Photoshop and Unreal 4. Basically, If you know how to model, texture and unwrap simple objects you are good to go!

About the author

My name is Thiago Klafke and I'm a professional environment artist with over 8 years of experience in the games industry. I have contributed to titles such as Overwatch, Starcraft II and Insurgency. You can check out more of my work and free tutorials on my personal website.

Topics Covered:

Modular Level Building

Speed is everything in environments creation. Learn how to make flexible and powerful modular kits. Almost everything that you see on this map is modular and can be reused in any way you see fit.

Simplified Material Creation

Learn how to create convincing Phisically-Based Materials entirely in Photoshop. No substance or Quixel was used in the making of this tutorial. Another thing you won't find here is complicated material node networks that don't make sense to you. Everything was created with simple material bases that only perform what's needed for the environment - both for simplicity sake and for performance reasons.

"Organic" Map Building

When I started this environment I had only a very vague image in mind. I started by making a few shapes and coming up with new ideas as I went. Sometimes finding inspiration is very hard, and I want to show you how by starting with a simple idea and solving problems along the way you can end up with a great looking (and hopefully) original piece.

Over 27 hours of content

I recorded every single step along the way tackling a lot of different topics. I also kept everything straight to the point and simple, working as fast as possible and as cheap as possible - the office chair for example was made from scratch in about 40 minutes.

No Unnecessary Narration

Since there's so much content in this tutorial, all the work has been broken down in chapters of about 1 hour each. At the start of each episode I briefly explain what I'm about to make and then you are free to just watch me working. Together with the episodes, you will receive an index with detailed explanations for each chapter. All the hotkeys I use are printed on the screen. If for some reason something doesn't make sense to you just shoot me an email and I'll be glad to explain in more detail!

Unlock the power of tiling textures

Most, if not all assets, were made from tiling textures, this way you can reuse a material in several different objects, cutting production time significantly and gaining in performance.

Increase your chances of landing a job

If you are an aspiring artist working on your portfolio you will definitely want to check this out. Everything I show is standard practice in AAA games creation. The processes you will learn here would otherwise take you years to figure out by yourself.

Get ready for the VR Revolution

Every single asset has been created with VR in mind. This means proper scale, cheap objects with few draw calls, simple materials, great material definition and realistic proportions.

* I only cut out some redundant parts for time's sake.

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